41Synonyms found for wash away

Word Origin & History

wash O.E. wascan, wæscan, from P.Gmc. *watskanan (cf. O.N. vaska, M.Du. wasscen, Du. wassen, Ger. waschen), from stem *wat-, the source of water. Used mainly of clothes in O.E. (the principal verb for washing the body, dishes, etc. being þwean). Verbal phrase wash out "obliterate, cancel" is attested from 1580; hence colloquial sense of "to call off (an event) due to bad weather, etc.;" the noun sense of "disappointing failure" is recorded from 1902. Washed-out "faded" is from 1837; washed up is 1923 theater slang, from notion of washing up one's hands at the end of a job.